Ideas in Art, culture, technology,politics and life-- In Brooklyn and Beyond

Friday, March 23, 2012

Tales from the Outer Circle: 'The Night The GOP Got Soul'

Non-commercial, marginalized blogger that I am, I wistfully admire the cool professional work done every day by professional journalists, particularly those who cover the New York City political scene. And, as they work hard, this fortunate group also enjoy the opportunity to play hard, as members of the Inner Circle, an organization of NYC reporters and journalists, that annually puts on a black tie event, the Inner Circle Dinner, at which they trenchantly satirize the City of New York powers that be, and are answered, in kind, in a theatrical performance by the Mayor and his (and no doubt some day, her) own inner government circle of advisors and minions. Although I have never attended, I am always fascinated to learn about this event. This year, I was pleased to learn that veteran NYC political reporter Dominic Carter---who had, through a series of unfortunate personal and legal issues, experienced a fall from grace, but who apparently has now resolved/recovered/re-emerged, and is back on the NYC scene as a reporter for RNN-TV and newsblogs---will appear in this year's Inner Circle show, "Pre-Occupied", performing as former GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain.

This reminded me that earlier this year, dreaming of the Inner Circle from my Outer Circle Perch, I had written a little IC-style parody about the rise and fall of Herman Cain, based on the classic tune by The Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

Clearly, while my ditty no doubt pales in comparison to whatever Mr. Carter and his colleagues will perform, I felt I may as well lay my own Humble Effort out there on DITHOB for posterity. Remember, folks, it is a parody laced with satire that has stepped in doggerel, but here it goes:

Herman Cain is the name and I’m running for Pres-i-dent
Til Bimbo eruptions threatened/to scuttle my whole campaign
Just a year on the campaign trail, Palin’s out, and Perry’s short-term memory had just a-gone to hell,
By New Year’s Day, Bachmann too had fell, it was a time, I remember oh so well…

(Chorus):
The Night The GOP got soul, and the bells were ringing,
[Scat singing] The Night The Grand Ol’ Party got soul, and the people were singin'. They went
Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine Nine-a, etc.

Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day in ‘08 she called to me,
“Herman, quick, come see, there’s a Negro president on the Tee-vee!"
Now I don't mind the fast food game, and I don't care if bimbo’s try to smear my name.
The White House’s tried the rest, now it’s time to try the best,
I say, Time to send Barack home to Chi-town for a resssssst!

(Chorus):
The Night The GOP got soul, and the bells were ringing,
[Scat singing] The Night The Grand Ol’ Party got soul, and the people were singin'. They went
Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine Nine-a, etc.

Like Silent Cal before me, I will stump the land,
And tell of Solyndra and Obama-care, which my Tea Party crackers just can’t stand.
Sure, Obama’s Ivy League, proud and brave, but Godfather’s Pizza’s the flag I proudly wave, (Big Finish:) Like the cheese below my feet that does oooze ,
I'm Herman Cain! and my candidacy's one offer you simply can’t refu-u-u--u-se!…

Ghost Hunters -William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death - Deborah Blum

Dream -Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy - Stephen Duncombe

Love & Theft - Eric Lott

Exit Ghost - Philip Roth

Studio A - The Bob Dylan Reader

Current Listening

Alexi Murdoch Wait

Wilco Summer Teeth

Wilco The Album

Carmina Burana - Ray Manzarek (& Michael Riesmann)

Polyrock - Polyrock

96 Tears - Garland Jeffries

Ghost of a Chance Garland Jeffries

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Mustang Sally Buddy Guy

John Lee Hooker

Black and White Years

Together Through Life - B. Dylan

100 Days 100 Nites - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

DYLAN: 3 disc Greatest...

Glassworks - Philip Glass

Wild Palms - Soundtrack -Ryuichi Sakamoto

Dinah Washington - Best of..

Commander Cody& His Lost Planet Airmen Live at Armadillo

Coda: Droning Under the Influence

The recent accidental incursion of a small drone onto the White House lawn by an apparently inebriated government security analyst has riled up the Secret Service and is the subject of a New York Times column by Gail Collins, link here.

Coda: Maureen Dowd--Drones R Us

The NY Times' Maureen Dowd talks about Washington Post owner/Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos' views -- despite the impact of the "collateral damage" of deaths of civilians on the Iraqi/Afghanistan border --on How He Learned to Love the Drone [link here]

Under the Drones

Journalist and author Jere Van Dyk describes what it is like to find yourself underneath a UAV in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "

After pursuing an interview with a Taliban leader, Van Dyk finds himself under the gaze of a drone (aka UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle): "It's been here a few days," whispered Sami, my interpreter. "Everyone knows it's here."I was afraid of the Taliban and now, of the Predator. I imagined young Americans sitting in a far-away office, staring at a small screen, getting ready to press a button and kill us all before going to lunch.

They could see a milk carton from 50,000 feet....It was one thing to sit in a room 7,000 miles away and another thing entirely to be under that buzzing sound, knowing that above you men, or women are looking down and that you are helpless against them.."

"Who Owns the Future?"

Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not A Gadget, musician, i-visionary/designer/philosopher, has written a new book, "Who Owns the Future?" that will be published this month in the UK and in the US in May. As Guardian writer observes in his review: " [Lanier] tellingly questions the trajectory of economic value in the information age, and argues that there has been a fundamental misstep in how capitalism has gone digital. For Lanier, late capitalism is not so much exhausted as humiliating: in an automated world, information is more important to the economy than manual labour, and yet we are expected to surrender information generated by or about ourselves – a valuable resource – for free."Link to the full review here.

The Brooklyn Bridge at Sunset

Photo by Anthony Napoli 2007

Coney Island of the Mind

Photo by Anthony Napoli 2008

Boris Strugatsky, Russian Sci Fi Author, 1933-2012

Science Fiction legend Boris Strugatsky, who with his elder brother Arkady, penned numerous classic novels, novellas and short stories, including "Roadside Picnic" (source of Andrei Tarkovsky's classic film, Stalker) and "Far Rainbow" died in St. Petersburg on November 18, 2012, of cancer. More here

Dealing with Post-Storm Trauma

Human Engineering and Climate Change

Internet and Economic Futures: The "Lanier Effect"

Jaron Lanier in conversation on Edge considers the hows and whys, could have beens and should have beens of the Global Web and the Emerging Economy. Is it a lock or are more hopeful outcomes possible? A must read here

" While Saviano pointed out the vulnerability of some U.S. banks for money laundering and economic crime, and then established a connection to the financial crisis and the Italian Mafia, Roubini declared social inequality as the fundamental evil of the financial crisis and showed solidarity with the young protesters of the Occupy Wall Street movement." Full Link here

2011

The End of Blogging ?

ZOMBIELAND: American Politics, 2008- Present

Paul Krugman wonders how, despite the economic crisis brought on by the free-market fundamentalism and anti-government de-regulation ethos of the Bush Administration, the current tax cut and anti-regulation fervor remains the dominent political ideology.

Frank Rich on "The Bipartisan Racket" - "If No Labels is the best our centrist political establishment can come up with to address the ills eating away at America, its culture is as bankrupt as Citigroup would be if taxpayers had allowed it to fail." Link here

"Abhorrent" was the reaction of one of the curators of the controversial exhibit "Hide/Seek" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, over the decision to remove the video "A Fire in the Belly" by the artist David Wojnarowicz.

Magic 8 Ball

Deep.... in the Heart of Brooklyn

Tweet! Twitter Me Here

Sunset

Email Me

...

SLEEPYHEAD - Passion Pit

And everything is going to the beatAnd everything is going to the beatAnd everything is going

And you said it was like fire around the brimBurning solid burning thin the burning rimLike stars burning holes right through the darkFlicking fire like saltwater into my eyesYou were one inch from the edge of this bedI dragged you back a sleepyheadThey couldn't think of something to say the day you burstWith all their lions and all their might and all their thirstThey crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thinAgainst the walls against your rules against your skinMy beard grew down to the floor and out through the doorsOf your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyheadYour headLyrics copyright 2007 by Passion Pit

POLYROCK - Romantic Me (1980)

Polyrock was an American post-punk/ new wave band formed in New York City in 1978 and active until the mid-1980s. Strongly influenced by minimalism , the group was produced by the composer Philip Glass and Kurt Munkasci. The band, led by singer/guitarist Billy Robertson (formerly of the group Model Citizen), had a keyboard-heavy, pattern-based sound strongly reminiscent of Glass's work; in fact, Glass performed on the group's album.

Preserving the Vision: Brooklyn Bridge

An email from Daphne Willians included the video below about "a proposed development that can ruin the views of the Brooklyn Bridge. There's a vote on April 22 which can hopefully stop this from happening. Even David McCullogh , the famous author is advocating for this cause.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34eV2nz4Jvo "

Interested readers may wish to check out the video and can contact Council Speaker Christine Quinn cquinn@council.nyc.gov / Phone: (212) 788-7210

Sir Salman Rushdie

Bob Dylan in Edinburgh: Drawn Blank

A postcard from Edinburgh of the Bob Dylan "Drawn Blank" exhibit at the Edinburgh City Art Centre. Our older daughter, doing the Study Abroad thang, sent a postcard, from the exhibit which I had hocked her to see when she visited Scotland. She termed the show "Great! Some of his stuff looks almost Chagall like; very impressed!"

Pre-Weekend Notes

Excitement definitely in the air in downtown Brooklyn as we approach the holiday weekend. As the weekend before the big week unfolds, with, of course, the virtually back-to-back holiday celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the inauguration of the 44th Preident of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, there is palpable excitement and energy in the winter air. The opening of Notorious, which despite the cold, has lines outside the Regal Cinema on Court Street, just adds to the energy and excitement.

When we lived in Clinton Hill/Fort Greene in the 90s, it was a few blocks away from the late Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G./Christopher Wallace's home on St. James Place. Our older daughter, now still studying in Europe, is pining for the fjords that she has to miss the premier of the film. As one of her teacher's said years ago, when another kid was trying to "explain" to our daughter some hip hop reference, "You don't have to explain that to her, Danielle grew up in the 'hood." Sort of. Not exactly. But, so it goes.

The late Christopher Wallace had brains, talent, and charisma to spare. Before he broke through, he survived the streets, drugs, and Brooklyn. He had a strong mom behind him. But I guess he couldn't survive his fame. The killing of Tupac Shakur was big news. But you could sense the murder of Christopher Wallace hit Brooklyn kids really hard with a heavy punch. If Barack Obama represents one story of remarkable success for Black Americans, the path taken by the late Christopher Wallace surely represented another. Rap, hip hop, or whatever you want to call contemporary Black music, has taken the world by storm. Wallace, yet another achieving kid from Brooklyn, made his mark.

President-elect Obama is trim, vibrant, healthy, athletic, a brilliant writer, supremely self-confident. B.I.G. was big, robust, pleasure-seeking, a brilliant writer, and supremely self-confident. They each took their own path, both tinged with pathos and the blues, and each forged his own unique, individual brand. Although President-elect Obama, clearly a brilliant, remarkable, charismatic, strong family- values-rooted guy represents a more familiar, comfortable model of success, America will always have room for and produce the creative, visionary, and healing artist, no matter how much that talent skirts with realms of danger, self-destructiveness, and violence.

Thanks to "Da Pride of Flatbush"

Since 9/11 our street has collected money to provide a full Thanksgiving Day feast to the Bravest at Engine Company 281 and Ladder Company 147 on Cortelyou Road, "da Pride of Flatbush." A group of neighbors delivers the meal to the firehouse on Thanksgiving morning. Thank you, Bravest (along with all other wonderful New Yorkers who serve and protect our community throughout the year.)

A Melancholy Moment: Shoot the Freak in Autumn. ALL PHOTOS BY BROOKLYN BEAT/TN

Ruby Jacobs' Place: Historic Watering Hole by the Water

'A Tectonic Shift' ?

Senator Charles Schumer in AP Photo

Varieties of Religious Experience: Spiritual Technology

Poster for Kaporos, ritual atonement for misdeeds, in the Midwood Area. Photo by TN 2008

Pumpkin Patch, Brooklyn Heights. Photo by TN 2008

Gourds. Photo by TN 2008

Tuesday Greenmarket, Cadman Plaza, 12:35 PM Photo by TN 2008

DADDY'S AUTUMN-THEMED BIRTHDAY CAKE

Cake by Ilana and Gabrielle Napoli. Photo by Tn 2008

Gabrielle posing with the Cake. Photo by TN 2008.

Zero to 400 degrees Fahrenheit in 60 seconds

Our "Universal" Stove circa 1950-60(?)

The Universal's Grille and Dashboard

Able Danger

Tom Flynn (Adam Neer) on the run

Happy New Year 5769

Rosh Hashanah, A Time for Beginnings and Endings, Reflections and Thoughtfulness. Photo & Pancake by Brooklyn Beat/TN 2008

'Every Step of the Way': Mississippi

Art in Free Fall at BWAC: A Photo Op with the Governor of Alaska and A Lot More

An installation by Dawn Robyn Petrlik. Photo by TN 2008

Dreamin' of You

Harry Dean Stanton, Bootlegger, Hollywood Rebel

Remembering 9/11

A Quartet of Musicians from the Broooklyn Heights Symphony perform a September 11 Concert -- Brooklyn Heights, one of the memorial concerts held around the world. 12:30 PM, 9/11/08

The United States of America

Don't Tread on Me

The Large Hadron Collider

We Have the Power to Change

R. Buckminster Fuller

Cover of Time, Jan. 20, 1964

Dymaxion Car - photo by TN 2008

DYnamicMAXimumION= Dymaxion

Dymaxion Car & Flyeye Dome

Buckyball: Got Tensegrity?

Geodesic Dome- Montreal Worlds Fair 1967

The Land of Brooklyn Born

Photos by TN 2008

Ruby's

Don't Gitmo Better

Boardwalk in motion

El Clavo y la cruz Photo by TN 2008

POMEGRANATE

Photo by Gabrielle Napoli 2008

Photo by Tony Napoli 2008

TN 2008

The Wall: Another Flatbush Take on Beijing 2008

TN 2008

Bob Dylan at Prospect park

Really nice photos from the park on Flckr

Bob Dylan: West of the Jordan

Rollin' & Tumblin' into Prospect Park

Seen the Arrow on the Doorpost: Bob Dylan

Richie Havens at Metrotech

Photos by TN 2008

Richie Havens 2008 from www.richiehavens.com

Photo by TN 2008

Nobody Left to Crown: new album

Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim Museum

Photo - Louise Bourgeois archive

Location of Louise Bourgeois Studio, circa 1980s

475 Dean Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Brooklyn

"Art is a Guaranty of Sanity" - LB

Le Defi (Defiance) by Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim Museum

Photo by TN 2008

LB photo: Louise Bourgeois archives

The Blind Leading the Blind - Louise Bourgeois

Gone (Soon) But Not Forgotten - "W" by Oliver Stone

Josh Brolin as #43

BWAC: Art as Reality

Dawn Robyn Petrlik's Sculpture and Installation. Photo by TN 2008

The Late "Sister Green" - Esmin Green in Life. Photo: CNN

HOT! BWAC Summer Art Exhibition July 26 - August 17, 2008

"Stage 1-Perpetuity: Unresolved Attachments" by Judy Tantleff-Napoli at BWAC during the set up

Sculpture by Brian Keogh

the Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly

American West: History & Mythology

Billy & Alias compare notes in the Rio Pecos Valley

Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Alias as Bob Dylan

"Anyone see my bucket.....?"

The Waterfalls

Photos by Tony Napoli

George Washington Drank Here: High Rock Spring

A New Format

After this first year of the blogging life, here at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn, a change in format seemed in order, giving the posts and the photos a little more breathing room, and getting rid of those pixilating dots. Hope this improves readability. Let's see how it works.

The Station at Avenue H

Tammany & Friends

Gabrielle with Guinevere (as Hot Dog) at the Dogs Den Halloween Party - see post on Brooklyn in Autumn

Colors

Decorated by Ilana. Baked by Ilana & Gaby.

Dia De Los Muertos -- Day of the Dead

Mexico

Day of the Dead Papercut

from www.storyboardart.com

Now: The Q Train Station at Avenue H

Paging Dr. Kildare (Make that Dr. Azul) at the Dogs Den Halloween Party - see Brooklyn in Autumn post below

Quote of the Quotidian and Quandam World

"What we call real estate--the solid ground to build a house on--is the broad foundation on which nearly all the guilt of this world rests."Nathaniel HawthorneThe House of Seven Gables

Great Moments in the Sopranos #2 : We Have A Winner.

Angry mob boss Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) who got the squashed calabasa treatment lived in this lovely manse ostensibly located on Marlborough and Dorchester (according to the obviously prop street signs posted in front of the home.) Last week I asked if anyone had a clue where the real home stands? Well, ding-ding-ding !, we have a winner: E. Joslyn located a link, Sue's Soprano Sightings (see link below) which indicates, incredibly that the house is actually located in Newark, NJ. Ms Joslin, when beginning to poke around, thought it was in Staten Island. Others indicated it seemed like something from Dyker Heights. But apparently, Newark, NJ it is -- it sure could be a grand Flatbush home ! Thanks, Erin for the research.

Local History

My NY TIMES METROPOLITAN DIARY ARTICLE - JULY 11, 2005

NY TIMES - METRO SECTION MONDAY, JULY 11, 2005

Dear Diary:

My family was taking a stroll up Hudson Street on a beautiful evening. A young man approached, shirtless but wearing a very large snake draped around his neck and shoulders. The young man stopped to chat with an acquaintance while the snake slithered and slathered, taking in the street scene from its perch.

Close by, a mother with her 2-year-old son in a stroller was similarly engaged in a passing conversation. Her little guy, not yet jaded by the downtown scene, reached out to make nice with the undulating reptile.

Young mom, though seemingly oblivious and wrapped in conversation, didn't miss a beat, and corrected her son with downtown, seen-it-all aplomb - "Don't touch the big snake, sweetie, we're going out for pizza" - before they strolled away.

(Brooklyn Beat)

Prophetic Dreams

Last week I dreamed that my wife and I were on a fast moving train, speeding somewhere through the heartland, and the train was being chased by a tornado.
Back in 1990, I had a vivid dream, never to be forgotten, that I was in my parent's apartment in Windsor Terrace, top floor, at 10th avenue and 17th street, really near the highpoint of Brooklyn. We could see the parachute jump tower in the far distance in Coney Island from that window. In my dream, from the distance, I saw a line of people, on magic carpets, flying by, hundred, thousands, millions of people, loaded down with material, boxes, weapons, etc. I will never forget that dream, and cannot think of it as anything except as a harbinger of the first Gulf War. It was essentially a huge carvan or transport of people, passing by my parents' window (I hadn't lived in that apartment for over a dozen years by that time)
Do you recall any dreams that seemed to foretell the future in some cosmic and large way?